Oct 23 2011

Vancouver BC (Timbers vs Whitecaps)

As Sept turned to Oct, I flew up to Portland to meet up with my friend Elizabeth.  The purpose, to drive up to Vancouver BC to see the Timbers take on the Vancouver Whitecaps in the last “Cascadia Cup” match of the season.  Unfortunately, the result of the cup competition was already decided for this season (damn flounders)…but we were still in playoff contention and definitely could use the 3 points against one of our natural rivals.  The game was on Sunday Oct 2nd in the early afternoon, so we headed up Saturday morning to make sure we’d have plenty of time to check out some events planned by the Timbers Army (and we would have had to leave super early to make it to the match on Sunday if we had left the same day).

Because of the early start time, and the request from the Whitecaps front office that we be in the stadium a couple hours before kickoff, the morning meetup was pretty early (at least for the folks that had stayed out late partying the night before).  Since we had all been pretty tired from the drive on Saturday, we had ended up crashing pretty early.  As a result, I got up at a fairly normal weekend time for me (around 7am), got ready and went for a walk.  It was an absolutely gorgeous morning with hardly a cloud in the sky.  It wasn’t until closer to game time that the projected cloudiness appeared at all…and that was just some light cloud cover at that.  One of the great Pacific NW fall days for sure.

Vancouver BC

There were around 500 of the Timbers Army in town to support the team.  The pub we met up at to pick up our match tickets was about 1 kilometer away from BC Place (the stadium).  Being the best supporters around…we sang the entire way there.  It made for some interesting looks for the friendly natives.

Timbers Army marches to BC Place

Despite being inside the stadium before any of the local fans, the we were all up singing and waving flags from the moment we got to our seats until the end of the match.  We were apparently a little loud, as friends watching on TV told us later that you could only hear the TA chants and barely anything from the Whitecaps fans.  Our newly favorite chant of the day “Our House, in the middle of BC” was pretty accurate (especially as we won the match).

Timbers Army in BC Place

It was a great time, even if I didn’t get to see much of Vancouver (since we left to drive home right after the match).  I definitely want to go back and visit for a longer trip sometime soon.  More pictures from the trip and the match are HERE.

Permanent link to this article: https://www.rhinoblues.com/thoughts/2011/10/vancouver-bc-timbers-vs-whitecap/

Oct 20 2011

Moon

Moon

I am so delighted
With you, because I know you
And I know you
Came down to me, answering.
I walked up hill
After you went all the way down.
I hadn’t seen too,
But I believed in you,
And I believed you were dividing three cones
Of sky down beyond
The left shoulder of the white oak
In Warnock,
Ohio, and I remember and I pray
Come down to me love and bring me
One panther of silver and one happy
Evening of snow,
And I will give you
My life, my own, and now
My beloved has come to me and we have gone walking
Below you beside the East
River in the snow, all
Three of us, leaving
Six prints of panther, kind
Woman, and happy
Man,
And I love you,
Sky full of laurels and arrows,
White shadow of cities where the scars
Of forgotten swans
Waken into feathers
And new leaves.

       —James Wright

Permanent link to this article: https://www.rhinoblues.com/thoughts/2011/10/moon/

Oct 18 2011

Love in a Warm Room in Winter

Love in a Warm Room in Winter

The trouble with you is
You think all I want to do
Is get you into bed
And make love with you.

And that’s not true!

I was just trying to make friends.
All I wanted to do
Was get into bed
With you and make

Love with you.

Who was that little bird we saw towering upside down
This afternoon on that pine cone, on the edge of a cliff,
In the snow? Wasn’t he charming? yes, he was, now,
Now, now,
Just take it easy.

Aha!

— James Wright

Permanent link to this article: https://www.rhinoblues.com/thoughts/2011/10/love-in-a-warm-room-in-winter/

Oct 10 2011

NYC for Mike’s wedding

In early September, Alicia and I flew to NYC for my friend Mike’s wedding.  It was Alicia’s first trip to NYC (and my second).  We caught a red-eye flight from LAX to Newark (through Cincinnati), and arrived to NYC Friday morning.  Because we had flew into Newark, we had to take the train into the city from the Newark airport.  So our first experience with NYC was emerging from Penn Station.  We had to pick up the keys to the apt we were staying at in Brooklyn, which was a short walk to 5th Ave.  Along the way, we walked through Koreatown.  We had left one Koreatown for another (though NYC’s K-town is a much smaller deal than LA as its only one block).

Koreatown NYCAfter picking up the keys, we got some lunch and then headed to Brooklyn to drop off our stuff and get ready to head out for the wedding.  We were able to walk over to Mike’s apt from where we were staying and then go with the larger group heading over to the wedding site.  As for the wedding itself, it was probably one of the best weddings that I’ve attended.  It was low-key, but not overtly.  They had friends that had provided homebrewed beer as part of the beverages and it was catered by a pizza truck (I don’t remember if it was wood-fired…but it was definitely artisan pizza).  Mike and Jessica had written their own vows (Mike’s referencing his obsessive fandom of the Oregon Ducks and other sports).  A real good time.  We did end up bowing out around 11pm (ET)…since we had very little sleep since the day before (and what sleep we had was airplane sleep).

Mike & JessicaSaturday, one of Alicia’s college friends came up to the city from Rutgers.  We met up with her at Central Park and walked around there for a while and then I left to meet up with Mike at the NYC Duck’s bar to watch the football game (see the vows reference above).  One cool thing that happened on Saturday, is that while Alicia and her friend were checking out the Highline Park, they ran into a La Newyorkina cart.  We had just received her Paletas cookbook from the KCRW cookbook club a week or two before the trip.  (Alicia and I went back the next day, because I wanted to try one as well).  After the Duck game was over, I met back up with them and we ended up heading down to the tip of Manhattan.  We walked by Ground Zero, where they were going to have the big grand opening of the 9/11 Memorial the next day, and then walked down to see if we could catch the Staten Island Ferry.  When we got to the terminal, we had just missed a ferry and didn’t feel like waiting for the next one.  Because it was the 10th Anniversary of 9/11 the next day, they had set up white flags for the persons killed in the attacks in Battery Park.  Each flag had each persons name on it.  It was a pretty impressive display (it takes a lot of park space to put up that many flags).

9/11 FlagsIt was a quick trip (we had to head back Sunday), but we both had fun.  Alicia wants to move there (I think its a nice place to visit…but I wouldn’t want to live there).

Permanent link to this article: https://www.rhinoblues.com/thoughts/2011/10/nyc-mikeswedding/

Sep 22 2011

World Rhino Day!

The March of MankindToday is the WWF’s second annual World Rhino Day supporting the efforts to end rhino poaching worldwide.

In honor of World Rhino Day, Flickr is highlighting photos of rhino’s today. (the images in this post come from flickr…many more here).

A rhino's smile

Permanent link to this article: https://www.rhinoblues.com/thoughts/2011/09/world-rhino-day/

Sep 08 2011

The Skin I Live In

A new film from Almodóvar and the return of Antonio Banderas to a leading role in one of his films:

I’m looking forward to seeing this when it comes out Oct 14th.  Looks like a good creepy thriller from a great director.  Official Site

(view the post on my site if you can’t see the video above)

Permanent link to this article: https://www.rhinoblues.com/thoughts/2011/09/the-skin-i-live-in/

Aug 23 2011

OK Go & The Muppet Theme Song

The Muppet Theme Song interpreted by OK Go (both visually and musically):

Permanent link to this article: https://www.rhinoblues.com/thoughts/2011/08/ok-go-the-muppet-theme-song/

Aug 18 2011

Mushroom Farmin’

Courtesy of Green LA Girl and Back to the Roots, I received one of Back to the Roots Pearl Oyster Mushroom growing kits.  Basically its a box with a bag inside composed of recycled coffee grounds and mushroom spores.

Mushroom Farm Day 1

Day 1

The instructions for the kit were pretty easy.  You can see in the picture above, where I cut a cross in the bag.  After that, I soaked the whole bag in water for 24 hours to make sure everything was nice and moist.  Returning the bag to the box all I had to do was mist under the flaps of the bag twice a day and wait for them to grow.

mushrooms sprout (day 9)

Mushrooms Sprout! (Day 9)

Unfortunately, I wasn’t there for when they sprouted.  I was off on my trip to the Bay Area and Alicia was watering my mushrooms at the time.  She told me she had misted them the previous evening and when she woke up the next morning they had sprouted!  After that they continued to grow fairly quickly.  By the time I got home the next day they were almost ready to harvest.

Mushrooms Day 10

Day 10

I ended up having to harvest this first batch a little earlier than I would have liked, but luckily I still have the other side of the bag to grow.  Tonight is Day 1 for the second batch in fact.  According to the Back to the Roots website, I may even be able to get additional batches out of the same bag (only the first two are expected).  Even so, the mushrooms were pretty decent sized when I harvested them, and quite tasty in the Japanese style curry I used them in.

Day 11

Day 11 (right before harvesting)

 

Permanent link to this article: https://www.rhinoblues.com/thoughts/2011/08/mushroom-farmin/

Aug 17 2011

SuperHeavy: Miracle Worker

The first single from the forthcoming album from the super group SuperHeavy (Damian Marley, Dave Stewart, Mick Jagger, A.R. Rahman and Joss Stone).  Looking forward to hearing more from this album, but this is a pretty decent start.

Permanent link to this article: https://www.rhinoblues.com/thoughts/2011/08/superheavy-miracle-worker/

Aug 17 2011

Growing your own food may be the only way…

To insure you know where exactly your food comes from.  Following up the high profile raid in  2010 of raw food buying club Rawsome in Venice, earlier this month, both Rawsome and this time Healthy Family Farms in Santa Paula were again raided and its owners/operators arrested.  At first I was a little disgusted with what I thought was an overreaction by government agencies.  To shop at Rawsome, you have to become a member and acknowledge the risks of food that may not meet all government standards for processing (ie its raw and hasn’t been pasteurized or sprayed with chemicals, etc).  You can view the Rawsome Club agreement here.  Healthy Family Farms (HFF) is at many local farmer’s markets, including the Hollywood Farmer’s Market (where Alicia and I shop).  They have a CSA that provides for a discount on all items, as well as makes available additional items for pre-order for pick up at the market of your choice.  To join the CSA, you also have to sign an agreement similar to the Rawsome agreement, you can view it here.  After visiting the farm during one of their open houses, I decided to join the HFF CSA.

Now that the dust (and shock) of the initial raid/arrests have begun to settle, things have started to leak out that all may not be what it appears to be in regards to Rawsome & HFF.  As Erik at Root Simple writes, we may be getting “A Raw Deal.”  There seems to be evidence emerging that indicates that HFF is purchasing conventionally raised eggs and meat and then repackaging them for sale as coming from the farm in Santa Paula.  When I first heard this rumor, I dismissed it as a misunderstanding, as HFF had mentioned “rescuing” animals from other farms either going out of business or getting in trouble for mistreating animals.  But now I’m not so sure. (More info about HFF and its owner can be found here.)

These two examples aren’t the only local examples of this breach of trust.  In Sept 2010, the local NBC affiliate did an investigative report on farmer’s market vendors not being completely honest on where the goods they sold came from (as well claims of being pesticide-free).

View more videos at: http://nbclosangeles.com.

As Erik at Root Simple says:

This type of fraud, repackaging cheap wholesale food products and passing them off as organic/raw etc. is, I believe, widespread.

That list of reasons to grow your own food, if you can, keeps getting longer . . .

I’m not sure how all this will play out in the end, this is still just one side of the story, and we do live in a innocent until proven guilty world in the US.  I definitely will be thinking twice this Sunday when I get eggs at the market this week.  Will I look at some of the other vendors as better options?  Is HFF’s note in this weeks email of more limited egg availability and reduction of farmer’s market locations an indication that some of these allegations are true?  Right now, we really only have rumors and pieces of evidence that have not been judged.

We also don’t have HFF’s side of the story. Only the email copied below, asking for patience while the case works its way through the system and to take any potential motive in mind for anything negative you may hear:

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://www.rhinoblues.com/thoughts/2011/08/growing-your-own-food-may-be-the-only-way/